


A Diamond Ring Hides A Broken Heart

by boleynhowards



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: F/F, slight katanna is in here too but it’s not a big thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:46:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24263806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boleynhowards/pseuds/boleynhowards
Summary: Catherine Parr danced with two people at her wedding. The person she married and the person she wanted to marry.
Relationships: Anne Boleyn/Catherine Parr
Comments: 11
Kudos: 94





	A Diamond Ring Hides A Broken Heart

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to @theothercatherine (on both tumblr and AO3) for beta reading this and convincing me to upload it x

Cathy Parr stood at the mirror, examining her appearance. Her hair, which was usually tied up in some way, graciously flowed down her back, her curls sitting eloquently on her shoulders. Never being one for makeup, there was only a thin layer on her face. Enough to make her look even more beautiful yet maintain a natural glow. Then there was the dress. The long, white wedding dress that was tailored just for her, designed so gracefully so that every seam and every thread would bring out the best of her. She looked beautiful.

Today was supposed to be her special day. Weddings are supposed to be one of the happiest days of a person’s life, after all. Yet, behind the elegance of her dress and underneath the fine layer of makeup, there was nothing of the sort. The eyes of her reflection exposed that with ease - anyone who was close enough would be able to see the fear and unease that nestled in her irises.

“Is everything alright?”

Cutting through the silence, a voice snapped Cathy out of her reflective trance, and she spun on her heel to face whoever had just walked in. A tenseness she didn’t even realise she was possessing alleviated Cathy’s posture as she realised who it was. Her godmother, Catherine, had entered. She could be relaxed again.

“Nothing, don’t worry.” Cathy forced a smile, “I think I’m just nervous.”

Catherine looked skeptic for a moment, and Cathy feared she would cut through the lies and get to the bottom of what was really going on. The arched eyebrow and critical gaze only lasted for a second though, much to Cathy’s relief, and she responded with something more reassuring and endearing, “That’s normal, but you still shouldn’t worry. Thomas loves you to death.”

“Yeah.” Cathy grinned wider, almost to the point that it looked unnatural. Unknowingly, Catherine had just pinpointed the problem.

It wasn’t that Cathy had doubts about her fiance. No, she was sure that Thomas was a good man. If the past few years of their relationship were any indication, he would make a picture perfect husband. What’s more was that if they proved anything, it was that Thomas was undoubtedly in love with Cathy. He had been ever since their hands first brushed against one another, reaching for the same book in the library. Cathy loved him too. Maybe not for as long, but she definitely did. That’s why she was standing there, right then. That’s why she had gone through months of preparation and was now finally minutes away from her vows at the altar.

Even with these reassurances, there was just one fact that sat silently in Cathy’s mind, glaring at her. A constant reminder of the truth, and a nonstop reapplicant of her nerves and anxieties. She knew that no matter how hard she tried, Cathy would never be able to love him as much as he loved her. Not even with all the delicate kisses, the gentle words and the encapsulating hugs. It just wouldn’t happen.

That didn’t mean she didn’t try to be the perfect woman for Thomas. The woman he deserved. Thankfully, Thomas seemed to buy right into it. So did everyone else, apparently. She could only let her lovestruck facade drop when there was no one else around. It would be exhausting otherwise, to keep up the act.

The act hadn’t always been there though. When they first started dating, Cathy had insisted she was too busy to meet up when in reality she was spending yet another day in her office chair, working on a novel. On the rare occasions that Thomas coaxed Cathy out of the house for a coffee, she always made up an excuse to leave early and get back home. At the time, Cathy hoped this would weaken Thomas’ pursuit. Much to her displeasure, it only made him want her more.

Within time, Cathy realised that Thomas’ company wasn’t so bad. They shared a sense of humour and a passion for literature. He already knew all of her quirks, which showed how interested he really was. There was a tempting flirtatiousness wrapped up in his politeness and good guy charm, and he was patient enough to wait this long for her. Maybe that’s what drew Cathy in to where she had landed, what had ensnared her long enough to reach this stage despite her disinterest. In front of her was a man who by all means was perfect. It would be a fool’s choice to reject such a gift from the universe. But what do you do when deep down you know that the universe’s gift will never be enough?

Yet Cathy had persisted, even with the regrettable knowledge that Thomas would never amount to what her dreams really wanted.

It didn’t take long for Thomas to open up about himself after they became officially official. As for Cathy though, Thomas didn’t know much. Of course he knew the basics; where she was from, her school before they met in college, her hobbies and her pastimes. Eventually, Cathy had even introduced him to her friends and family. Most notably of these was Catherine.

Their first meeting seemed to go well. As did every single one after that actually. Catherine took a liking to Thomas, much to his relief. One thing that Cathy did notice though was how Catherine never wholeheartedly approved of the relationship. She found that off; that the stubborn woman didn’t say a word in support yet none against it either. There was almost an unspoken apprehension whenever it was just the couple and Catherine alone, but no one dared to point it out. In fact, Cathy was unsure if Thomas even realised it was there.

Maybe it would have been better if that uncertainty was addressed at some point because it could have prevented early what was going to happen a few years down the road when Thomas finally got on his knee before Cathy and presented a sparkling ring of sapphire - just the type of gemstone she had always dreamed about. Maybe it was the surprise of the moment that had prompted her decision, or perhaps it was the pressure of pleasing him that she had been carrying with her for so long. Whatever it was, Cathy, as expected, said yes.

A buildup of nerves and apprehensive excitement prevented Thomas from dwelling too much on the one second that passed in awkward silence. He was too blinded by his own love to catch the flash of hesitation that painted Cathy’s face for a split second or notice the way she stumbled on her words when she usually sounded so confident and sure. Even if he did see it, it was easily pinned down to surprise at what had just happened.

Surprise wasn’t it though. In fact, Cathy had admittedly been expecting it. She could tell from Thomas’ unusual bounciness that something big was coming, and a proposal wasn’t an impossible idea. No, the miniscule second of hesitation was Cathy’s own doubt. Her own pleading to the universe for everything in her life to just flip. For the man in front of her to just completely be replaced. His gentle blue eyes to be switched with mischievous green ones. His short brown hair to grow out into the dark brown, almost black, luscious locks that were more often than not fixed into two space buns. His fearfully trembling lips to change for the smirking red ones. For the voice speaking out to her to morph from deep and shaky to feminine and quick.

Cathy caught herself before she could dream for too long and quickly uttered an acceptance. That’s how she found herself in the glorious wedding reception; a mansion that resided in a beautiful meadow, decorated by cerulean banners and balloons and currently, the residence of about a hundred people. It was supposed to be her happy day. Yet Cathy felt nothing but a hollow emptiness and fearful regret, because even with all this - even with the most perfect wedding day and the most perfect man, she wasn’t satisfied. She wanted something - rather, someone - different.

“Are you ready?” Catherine placed a comforting hand on Cathy’s shoulder.

“Ready for marrying the man who I love, who’s going to be the best husband, father of our children and friend for life? Yeah, I’m ready.” Cathy nodded firmly, though her actions and words felt much like she was just trying to convince herself.

“So, what are you not ready for?” Her godmother asked, still noticing the nervousness in Cathy’s posture no matter how much she tried to hide it. Silently, she prayed it wasn’t for the reason she was thinking of.

“The dance.” Cathy joked, earning a playful eye roll from Catherine.

“If you stumble or fall, I’ll run from the crowd to catch you.” Catherine joked, looking around at their reflections in the mirror, “You look beautiful, Cathy.”

Before the bride could answer, however, the duo were interrupted by the door swinging wide open once more and in walking a third woman. “Yeah, you look gorgeous!”

Cathy’s eyes widened in seconds, because in walked Anne Boleyn and she looked stunning. She wore a slightly more extravagant version of her signature makeup, the red lips drawing Cathy’s attention even more so than usual. Her hair, which was usually fastened into two space buns, cascaded down her shoulders surprisingly neatly. Her body was clad into a tight fitting green dress, revealing just enough to tease.

“Trust you to barge in unwarranted.” Catherine commented though her tone didn’t actually hold any real malice.

“I only wanted to see the bride before the big ceremony.” Anne retaliated, flashing Catherine that breathtaking smirk.

“You probably want to plant a glitter bomb and ruin the dresses at the last minute.” Catherine chuckled before widening her eyes, “Wait, don’t get any ideas.”

“Maybe not this time, but there’s always your future wedding.” Anne grinned.

“You better not, Boleyn.” Catherine rolled her eyes before gazing between both the newcomer and the bride. As if something clicked in her mind, she quickly and unexpectedly excused herself, “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m just gonna… fix a bit of my makeup. Wait for me here, okay?”

With that, Catherine left the room.

“Don’t tell Kat and Anna this, but you’re the most beautiful and breathtaking bride I’ve ever seen.” Anne complimented now they were both alone, “Ethereal.”

Cathy was once again reminded why the universe’s gift would never be enough. What was meant to be her perfect match was simply a satisfying one. Thomas was funny but Anne was hilarious. Thomas was playful but Anne was chaotic. Thomas called her beautiful but Anne called her ethereal. Cathy loved Thomas, but she was in love with Anne.

“Thank you.” Cathy tried not to blush, but when it was coming from Anne she couldn’t really help herself. “And, uh… thank you for being here. I know we aren’t as close as we used to be.”

“I’m just stating the obvious.” Anne shrugged, playing with a strand of her hair, “And that doesn’t matter. It’d be kinda weird if we were as close as we were in school after this long.”

“You know what I mean, Anne.”

“Sorry.” Anne sighed, diverting her gaze to a bouquet of congratulatory flowers that had been delivered to the dressing room, “I’m shit at these things, I know. But I wanted you to know that even after all that happened and even though we’ve drifted apart quite a bit, I’m still here.”

History seemed to repeat itself in a matter of minutes, because before Cathy could answer, the door swung open and Catherine had returned. Noticeably, her makeup looked no different, but Cathy didn’t bother to point that out.

“I’ll go back downstairs for the party then.” Anne regained her energy within seconds, “See you soon!”

With that, Anne was gone and Cathy was back alone with Catherine. Only this time, even more fearful for the proceedings than she was before.

If she could freeze time, Cathy would have done it right there and then, never to face the ceremony. But she couldn’t. So, eventually, she made her way downstairs and thus started the wedding celebrations.

Everything was going well. The decor was prettier than Cathy remembered and the guests watched with excited anticipation as Cathy walked down the aisle. Thomas’ vows were nothing short of beautiful. When it came to Cathy’s speech, the bride was quite halfhearted, but it didn’t matter. The master of words had a way of writing, so much so that not even a crowd of people were able to notice that her words weren’t her truth; that they were being directed to the wrong person. Well, apart from a few important people present, but no one pointed it out.

It was shortly after the vows that the guests began to gravitate towards the dance floor in wait for the first dance between the newlyweds. Despite the worries she voiced to Catherine earlier, Cathy moved rhythmically along with Thomas as the first notes of the music began and all eyes fell onto the couple. Cathy had all the eyes in the world to meet as she rested her head on her husband’s shoulder, yet her brown eyes somehow found and connected with a watchful pair of emerald ones in the audience.

“She’s watching you.” Anna whispered discreetly to Anne.

“I know.” Anne just nodded, tightening her grip on the wine glass she was holding to keep her emotions in check.

“I guess you didn’t tell her then.”

“I wanted to.” Anne glanced over at her friend, breaking eye contact with Cathy, “I went up to her dressing room, ready to tell her everything. I was gonna tell her I was in love with her ever since she came over that one day to lend Kat those books.”

“What stopped you?” Anna spoke in a hushed whisper so no one else in the crowd could hear them, yet somehow her tone still managed to be demanding.

“It’s her wedding day, Anna.” Anne despondently answered, “I’ve had so long to tell her I’ve loved her, I couldn’t just do it five minutes before she gets fucking married to someone else. I don’t even know if we’re still friends, not after everything. We hooked up and then we drifted and I never once tried to stop it from happening or telling her how I feel. She deserves someone who’s not afraid to put it all on the line for her, Anna. She deserves him. Not me, who still can’t even tell her how I feel.”

“Aren’t you fun at parties.” Anna jokingly commented before realising it probably wasn’t the time, “Look, Anne, I’m sorry. It’s shit, but-”

“Don’t worry.” Anne hopelessly sighed, “You wouldn’t understand, anyway. You’re married to the girl of your dreams. Speaking of, she’s coming.” She pointed toward an approaching Katherine.

Following Anne’s gesture to greet Kat distracted Anna enough for Anne to slip away from the crowd and quietly make her way to the corner. It was her last intent to get upset, especially in the middle of a wedding, so she excused herself to calm down.

Cathy continued to watch the interaction from her spot on Thomas’ shoulder, and her heart ached as she yearned to go after Anne. She couldn’t though. She was fixed in this dance for the time being, waiting impatiently for the song to change.

When it finally did, the pair broke apart briefly and Cathy felt extremely lucky when they were approached by an unfamiliar woman who Thomas had invited.

“Do you mind if I take your husband for a dance?” The woman asked politely.

“Go ahead.” Cathy smiled and then vacated the dancefloor in search of Anne. She was no longer in the corner that Cathy had seen her walk to, which left the whole crowd of people to search. Then again, Anne always found some way of bringing attention to herself, be it her behaviour or just her stunning looks. Cathy supposed it would be easy to locate her really. Before she could even begin her search though, she felt a familiar grasp on her wrist twist her around, and she was face to face with the same green eyes she had been staring at from a distance earlier.

“Can I have a dance with the prettiest woman here?” Anne asked, grinning slightly. Whatever anxieties she was suffering earlier were gone.

“I can’t deny you.” Cathy admitted, allowing Anne to snake her arms around her waist and pull her into a gentle dance.

From across the dance floor, Thomas departed from the woman who had asked for his dance and glanced across in the direction his wife had gone. That was when he finally caught on. His eyes landed on Cathy dancing with Anne, and it was easy for him to see the love in her expression and the relaxation in her actions. Right then, he knew he was staring at the true first place in Cathy’s affections. He did have his suspicions before, but he let his love for the woman quell them. Now, though, he realised that was futile. He might have married Cathy, but he hadn’t won for he only had her hand. Anne had her heart.

“She’s Anne Boleyn, isn’t she?” Thomas asked as he approached the snack table, or, specifically, a pink haired woman who was pouring two cups of drink there. He was fairly certain that they were related in some way, Cathy had mentioned it in conversation.

“Uh, yeah.” Kat turned away from the glasses she was handling and followed the groom’s gaze. She looked up at him questionably.

“Does she have green eyes?” He asked, casually taking one of the glasses that Kat had poured and sipping on it, much to her confusion. Still, he didn’t take his eyes off of the dancing duo.

“Yeah.” She repeated, simply taking another glass off of the platter and pouring another cup rather than start a fight about it.

“Emerald?”

“Yeah.” She said for the third time.

“Since when is my wife in love with her?” He suddenly turned his gaze to Kat. His voice was demanding and slightly intimidating.

“I don’t know what you’re on about.” She replied hastily, grabbing the two glasses and getting ready to make her leave.

“Just tell me… Kat, is it?” He asked and she nodded, “I promise, I won’t be malicious. I just want to know.” His voice actually sounded vulnerable and upset. Biting her lip nervously, Kat chose to believe.

“Since the first year of college, when she came over to drop books off for me at our house. Anne answered the door.”

“I see. Why did Cathy only ever talk about her when she was paralytic drunk, then?”

“I dunno. They don’t really speak about each other that much, even though everyone knows they’re still into each other. It’s ‘cause they drifted apart after Anne went to study abroad in France for a year, but that was only ‘cause it got awkward after they hooked-”

Kat suddenly stopped, widening her eyes as she realised she shared too much. Thomas already knew what she was about to say though, so he didn’t even implore her to finish. He stood still, contemplating for a few moments, and for some reason, Kat felt inclined to stay.

“Let me tell you about the time she got drunk on Catherine’s birthday.” He began and Kat listened intently, “She was too drunk to go home by herself, so I made sure she got home safe. As I was tucking her into bed, she got all close to me and started talking about how much she loves my eyes. She said how beautiful they are, that they’re full of energy and spark and that she fell in love with them before she even knew what love was. That was the first time she told me she loved me. At least, I thought that until the second before she went to sleep. She looked up at me and whispered that ever since she saw them, emerald has been her favourite colour.”

The younger girl stood there in the wake of his story, clearly confused. That’s when Thomas decided to follow it up, and Kat could clearly hear the pain that he tried to bury within his voice.

“My eyes are blue.” Then he walked away.

An hour later and the party was still going on, but the newlyweds were nowhere in sight. Many drunk and tipsy guests jokingly assumed that the pair couldn’t wait until their honeymoon and had gone off to consummate the marriage early, but Anne just couldn’t see that happening.

Drawn by curiosity, she walked upstairs and back to the dressing room in search of Cathy. That was when she walked in on the bride sitting in front of the same mirror as earlier, only this time she had loosened her dress to a more comfortable fit and was in the process of wiping clean her makeup.

“Sorry, are you getting ready for your honeymoon or something?” Anne asked, stepping out to leave as soon as Cathy turned around to see who it was.

“No.” Cathy shook her head simply, “You can stay.”

Though confused, Anne walked back in and sat down next to Cathy.

“So, uh… what are you doing?” Anne questioned. Cathy shrugged, so she continued with another question, “What’s wrong?”

“Thomas came up to me and he asked me if I wanted to dance with his best man. I said no.”

“I don’t get it. Did you get in a fight or something?”

Cathy shook her head, “He then asked me if I wanted to dance with anyone else. I said no. Then he asked me why, and he never looked so vulnerable. I couldn’t keep it up anymore, Anne. I told him the truth. He left the building.”

Anne leaned closer to Cathy. She was instantly filled with confusion and worry for the bride, pondering if she should go after her husband and talk some sense into him. Yet curiosity prevailed, and so she finally asked, “What was the truth?”

Cathy unexpectedly turned around, and now they were so close that their lips brushed together as she murmured her response.

“I told him that I didn’t want to dance with anyone else because I already danced with the two most important people at my wedding. The person I married, and the person I wish I married.”

There was a stunned silence as realisation settled in Anne’s racing heart. With nothing holding her back anymore and exhilaration pushing her forward, she finally cupped Cathy’s face and pulled her in for a kiss.

They kissed again in Cathy’s hotel room later that night then a few weeks after that outside the courtroom after her marriage to Thomas was terminated. Their next significant kiss was inside the new house they had purchased together. Then, finally, there was the kiss they shared as Anne finished her vows.

After that, Anne never kissed Cathy Parr again. She did kiss Cathy Parr-Boleyn many times, though.


End file.
